So The Artist was a big deal during the awards season of 2011, but I'm willing to bet a lot of you didn't go out to see it. I know I wasn't particularly stoked about paying up to go see a silent movie in theaters, but someone dragged me.

And man, it was totally worth it. This is one of those situations where the absence of something major—like sound, and color for that matter—just draws attention to the things that are still there, in the best possible way. The Artist's (phenomenal) blocking, score, art design, and all around cinematography are all the more clear for the lack of sound, as is the actors' body language. It's fascinating.

The kicker here is that The Artist just came to Netflix Instant on Thursday, so now the barrier to entry is only an investment of your time (if you have Netflix anyway), and it's totally worth that. So queue it up and give it a watch, and then pantomime and lip-sync at everyone you see for the rest of the night. [Netflix]